From the reintroduction of threatened wallabies, the return of
aboriginal peoples to their ancient homeland and the discovery of new
plant species, inspiring stories about some of Australia’s most
successful land and water management projects reveal the conservation
benefits of cross-cultural partnerships. The projects are featured in a
new special issue of Ecological
Management & Restoration, a publication of the Ecological
Society of Australia.
Freely available online, the papers showcase how Indigenous and
non-Indigenous Australians are working together in remote parts of
central and northern Australia to develop innovative land and sea
management projects. These projects combine indigenous and
non-indigenous scientific knowledge and methods, highlighting the seldom
documented voices and the input of indigenous peoples into conservation
work.
“Successful partnerships between indigenous and non-indigenous
organisations are increasingly being formed to conserve and manage some
of the most intact and unique parts of the country such as Arnhem Land,
the Great Victoria Desert, the Queensland coast and the Kimberley,” said
Dr Emilie Ens, Guest Editor of the special issue. “These partnerships
and the lessons learnt are documented to guide the way for enhanced
cross-cultural approaches to managing country in Australia – a way that
is uniquely Australian.”
Indigenous people manage around 20% of the Australian continent,
contributing to a substantial proportion of Australia’s National Reserve
System. This includes some of the most intact and biologically diverse
landscapes on the continent, lands which also have important spiritual
meaning to Indigenous people.
“Many of the papers in this issue showcase new and innovative techniques
or approaches to management and are showing how involvement in ecosystem
management is reinforcing indigenous capacity to manage their country on
their own terms,” concluded Dr Ens. “This is not only beneficial for
environmental conservation but has ramifications for indigenous
wellbeing and cultural survival.”
Highlights:
•Synthesis: Australian approaches for managing “country” using
Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge': This paper reveals how
Australia is leading the way in relation to the scale of indigenous
owned and managed land . This supports the international push for
increased recognition and inclusion of Indigenous peoples in the natural
and cultural conservation effort, which has well-known links to
Indigenous health and wellbeing.
http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2011.00634.x
•After 80 years absence, Wuthathi people plan for the return and
management of ancestral homelands on Cape York Peninsula: Displaced from
their ancestral homelands since the late 1930s, the Wuthathi people are
now preparing for the return of their homelands as either Aboriginal
freehold land or as Aboriginal owned national park. This paper shows how
the Wuthathi, like many other Indigenous groups Australia-wide, are
planning to overcome a number of barriers to once again take up active
ecological and cultural land management of their lands.
http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2011.00625.x
•Cross-cultural systematic biological surveys in Australia’s Western
Desert: Combing science and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK)
surveys conducted with the Pila Nguru (Spinfex People) in the Great
Victoria Desert found a total of 185 native plant species, three of
which were new to science. Only six of the 148 vertebrate animals
recorded were introduced and many animal names used by the Spinifex
People were documented. This project reinforces how cross-cultural
surveys can not only build scientific knowledge, but contribute to
broader social goals of assisting Aboriginal people with
cross-generational transfer and documenting of IEK.
http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2011.00628.x
•‘Looking after Country two-ways’: Insights into Indigenous
community-based land management in the Southern Tanami: Reporting on a
major planning project to guide management of 10 million hectares of
biologically and culturally significant land in the Southern Tanami
Region of Central Australia, this paper demonstrates the importance of
combining both Indigenous and non-Indigenous ecological knowledge in
environmental planning and management.
http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2011.00631.x
•The Warru reintroduction project is a ground-breaking collaboration
between Traditional Owners, central Australian Anangu communities and
scientists to reintroduce warru (Black-footed Rock-wallaby) to Anangu
lands: 22 warru young have been successfully bred in captivity and 11
warru have been returned to the Indigenous lands, protected by a 97 ha
predator-proof enclosure which will allow the animals to adjust to the
local environment and learn the survival skills of their ancestors,
prior to being released into the wild.
To complement the issue, short summaries of a range of other successful
indigenous projects are also accessible online at www.emrprojectsummaries.org
